AWS says it no longer uses NDAs with government agencies when seeking data center approvals

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman said the company has stopped using nondisclosure agreements in its dealings with government agencies when it seeks approval for new data centers. The one-sentence statement appears in a longer blog post in which Garman defends data centers against growing local opposition. NDAs are a major part of that opposition. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has said her most common complaint about data centers is a lack of transparency. She describes a recurring pattern in which projects are announced after permits are secured and local officials sign NDAs before neighbors learn a project is being considered. New York has announced a one-year moratorium on permits for large data centers. Garman says more than 100 data center moratoriums are now being considered across the United States. "If these measures are enacted, the U.S. could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations," he wrote. In the post he also tries to rebut what he calls four myths about data centers, including that they use too much water, raise electricity costs and cause heavy pollution. The dispute affects residents, local governments and the cloud companies racing to add AI computing capacity.